When You Were Young
by marsh king's daughter
Summary: Sora asks Riku about the paopu fruit...and major fluff ensues.  Oneshotdrabble fic.


**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, I'm merely borrowing its characters for my own malicious intent…namely, Sora and Riku making out. Moohahaha!

The sun was high in the sky above Destiny Islands, and it was _hot_. So hot, that after spending the entire morning complaining about the lack of air conditioning in the house, 8 year old Riku Sugisaki's mother had kicked him out directly into the sweltering weather and told him not to come back until it was dinner time.

The young silver haired boy had paddled out to his favorite little island, and at first it hadn't been so bad, swimming there on the beach. But after a couple hours, he had gotten tired and simply wanted to lie quietly on the sand. A certain little brunette simply would not have that, however.

"Ri-ku? What's a paopu fruit?" asked the blue eyed boy. Oh, it was only about the _billionth_ question coming from the younger boy today. Whoever had said "curiosity killed the cat" clearly had never met Sora.

Riku opened one aquamarine eye to stare up at his friend, who was hovering over him expectantly. "Where'd you hear about those?" he muttered.

"Selphie."

"Then why didn't you ask _her_?" grumbled the older boy.

"Well, uh, she wasn't really telling _me_ about them. She was asking Tidus if he wanted to share one or something," explained the brunette.

Riku blinked. So Selphie liked Tidus…? He had always thought she had a thing for Wakka, actually…

"So? What is it?" Sora prodded, interrupting Riku's thoughts as he so often liked to do.

The silver haired boy sighed and sat up. "See that tree on the little island over there?" he asked, pointing it out to Sora. "That yellow star-shaped fruit on that tree, that's a paopu."

"Oh…that's it?" said the brunette, cocking his head to one side and sounding a bit disappointed.

"It's just some fruit. What were you expecting?" asked Riku, although he knew that that wasn't _all_ there was to it.

Sora shifted uncomfortably and his cheeks turned slightly pink. "Wellll, when I heard Tidus and Selphie earlier it seemed kinda different. Oh, and she said something about a legend! Do you know the legend, Ri-ku?" the brunette asked, laying down on his stomach next to the older boy and propping his elbows up in the sand.

"Er, it's just some girly thing really. It says that if two people share one, their destinies will become intertwined," Riku told the younger boy. _Not like anybody really believes stuff like that…Well, Selphie, of course, but that girl would swallow any of those romantic stories…_

"So…if two people shared a paopu, they'd be together forever?" questioned the smaller boy, blue eyes lit up with fascination. _Okay, and maybe Sora…_

"Yeah, I guess," Riku said, reluctantly deciding to just humor the boy. After all, he really didn't want to start some kind of silly argument about whether or not some fruit had the power to control destinies.

The brunette was silent for a moment, apparently lost in thought. Then, "Riku?"

"Hmmm?" _Why couldn't he at least stay quiet for __**5 minutes**_?

"W-will you…will you share a paopu with me?"

Riku shot straight up, startling the boy next to him. Sora watched him curiously, and the older boy could feel his face flushing under his friend's gaze. "N-no, Sora, I don't think you really understand…see that paopu thing is just for people who like each other," he stammered, trying to explain to his innocent friend.

But to his complete and utter surprise, at Riku's words the brunette's lower lip jutted out and began to tremble, and his blue eyes clouded over with tears. "Y-you don't…l-l-like me…?" Sora hiccupped, salty droplets streaming freely down his cheeks now.

"W-what? No! I mean, it's for people who _really_ like each other," Riku said, trying desperately to get his friend to stop crying. But apparently this didn't work too well, for Sora only started crying _harder_, his entire body shaking with little sobs.

Finally, Riku could see no other way to do this, and he pulled the smaller boy up into a sitting position, resting his hands gently on Sora's trembling shoulders. "It's for people who are in _love_," Riku mumbled, avoiding Sora's gaze.

Blue eyes widened in understanding and a faint blush crept across the brunette's cheeks as well. "O-oh," he sniffled. "I didn't…"

"It's okay," Riku said quickly. "I know."

For a moment they were both silent, the only sounds coming from either of them being quiet sniffs from Sora, although they were becoming less frequent now. Then the younger boy scooted closer to Riku, resting his head on Riku's shoulder.

"Riku?" he asked softly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think…we can be together forever, anyways? Without the paopu?"

Riku's eyes softened as he looked down at his friend. "Come on, Sora. Like we need some stupid fruit to tell us that. We're best friends, right?"

The brunette smiled happily. "Right! And everybody knows you'd be nothing without me, anyways," he stated matter-of-factly.

Riku smirked. "Oh really? I was thinking that it's the other way around, So-ra."

"Nuh-uh!" pouted the smaller boy. Another moment of silence passed.

"…Riku?"

The silver haired boy sighed. "Yes…?"

"I like you."

Riku smiled gently, a smile that only Sora would ever see. "I like you, too."

oOoOo

**Author's Notes:** Okay, that was some _major_ fluffiness. I know that the idea for this is so overused, but I was having writer's block on my other story and just needed to start something random and sweet. And now it has served its purpose, the creative juices are flowing again, and I have my first oneshot. Yay!

I'm not too interested in reviews on this one, but if you liked it then please check out my other fic that I'm working on right now, _For What Reason_. That one's an M, but at the moment there's really nothing bad in it except for a teensy bit of swearing. I know that I'm like shamelessly advertising my story here, _but_ if you go read it now, you get a cookie! And who doesn't like cookies?

-Much love from Emmy-kins


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